International Quds Day:

Why it matters after so many decades?

Rasa - On Friday, July ۱, the Iranian nation and Muslims around the world once again take to the streets to raise their voice in support of the Palestinian people.

News ID: 422537

Date: 04 July 2016 - 13:03

RNA - Quds Day is held annually on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan during which demonstrators call for the liberation of Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation. It was proclaimed in 1979 by the late Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution as a religious duty for all Muslims to rally in solidarity against Israel and for the liberation of Al-Quds.

As always, efforts will be made in the West to trouble the rallies to make more difficult for people to take part in the event by calling them "anti-semitic, anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah event", even on the grounds of the legislature, which is not surprising. After all, it was the West which created Israel in the first place.

The key message here is that the Quds Day is not about hate speech or anti-semitism, and certainly not an attempt to demonise Jewish people. This is about condemning an apartheid regime that refuses to end occupation and state terrorism.

The widespread rallies send several other messages to the world community, in particular the United States and its allies, which continue to support Israel and its crimes against humanity in breach of international protocols:

1-It is lawful to tell Washington to stop supporting the bloody occupation of Palestine as it only brings further trouble and disgrace for the White House. Were it not for their support, the apartheid regime would have collapsed a long time ago.

2-It is lawful to tell the Arab officialdom to stop seeking help from Israel and the West to remain in power or put pressure on resistance groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Ansarullah.

3-It is lawful to advise the War Party in Washington to leave the Middle East. Besides the Palestinians, the people of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan are also suffering. They are sick and tired of the US-led and US-backed bloodletting, terrorism, proxy wars, sectarian warfare, general mayhem, as well as its bungled experiment with democracy in Muslim holy lands.

4-It is lawful to reaffirm that public participation in political affairs is still the most effective tool for Muslims to stop foreign powers from sowing discord, and occupying and destroying their communities.

5-It is lawful to raise awareness about the fact that it is as a consequence of discord and complicity in the Arab world that the Palestinians are still paying a heavy price under occupation. The Israeli aggressors, backed by Western powers and propagandist media outlets, continue to harass and kill Palestinians or steal their lands under the nose of the international community and the United Nations is not doing anything about it.

That said, despite baseless allegations made by some opportunistic politicians and media in the West, Tehran has no intention to use military warfare to wipe out Israel. Quite the opposite, the Islamic Republic has come up with a rational, fair, just and humane plan in the form of national referendum for the native population of the occupied territories - irrespective of their religion - that could help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict once and for all.

But until that happens, the annual rallies of Quds Day in support of the Palestinian cause will continue to:

- Name and shame Israel and its cohorts

- Bring the world's attention to the endless sufferings in occupied Palestine

- Reiterate Palestinians can and will liberate the Holy Land

- Avoid pro-Israel political conflicts and differences

- And denounce politicians for not supporting the Palestinian cause.

By extension, this is not hatred propaganda at all. The worldwide rallies set on creating awareness about the fact that pro-Israel currents and lobbies in the West are only seeking to tarnish the image of Islam, create a false image that Islam is a religion that provokes violence and hate against Jews, that the rallies are a clear exhibit of Antisemitism, and that Israel represents the Jewish community the world over.

Far from it, Israel is a cadence of falsehood and falsehood is bound to perish. The racist regime works for the destruction of humanity and peace in world. It is past time for the international civil society to look into the plight of the Palestinians very seriously as it still matters after so many decades of Israeli occupation and state terrorism.

But one more fact should never be forgotten; when the so-called peace talks have repeatedly failed and the two-state solution has ended up in a deadlock only and only because of Israel's continued atrocities, aggression and occupation and as the Zionist regime continues to kill the Palestinians, usurp their lands and detain and torture Palestinian citizens and officials with total disrespect for the world community and UN resolutions, Palestinians are by any definition and standard entitled to the right of self-defense to reciprocate Israel's brutalities both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Israel's continued massacre, arbitrary detentions, torturing, aggression and increasing pressures against the oppressed Palestinian population is identical to the continued crackdown on dissent exercised by another US ally in Bahrain, and both should take serious caution not to corner the oppressed people, for all war commanders have endorsed the warning issued by the world's most renowned war strategist over 3,000 years ago that if you corner your foes and continue pressuring them, you will be the one most endangered as you have left them with no other option but to raid you with whatever they have within their possibilities to fight you to the last drop of their blood.

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